Nailing his 95 theses to a door is
not what made Martin Luther’s ideas famous. A printer did.

Spurred by the recent invention of the
printing press, Luther’s writing quickly
spread throughout Europe—with over a
million copies of his tracts in circulation
by 1524. In fact, it can be fairly said that
tracts have become the primary vehicle
for disseminating God’s Holy Word to
the common man.

Even in the age of the Internet, gospel
literature is taking God’s truths to the
nations as never before.

Dr. David (“Doc”) Crandall has seen
firsthand what the printed word can
do, and the opportunities just keep
growing. As the former head of Gospel
Literature Services (GLS), one of
the largest translation and distribution
networks of Christian literature in the
world, he saw the effectiveness of tracts
and other printed material to win souls
for Christ.

Doc’s passion for gospel literature
began during his days as a student in
seminary.

Lifelong Passion Begins

“As I read about the great revivals of
days gone by and read about the Reformation,
I saw how gospel literature
played a huge role,” he says. “I think
the greatest invention of all times is the
Gutenberg press.”

It is far more
productive
to start with
Jesus as
Creator than
to start with
Jesus and
the Cross.

His passion was fueled when the
church he pastored sent him to Togo,
West Africa. There, while standing on a
street corner, he and other missionaries
passed out gospel tracts to the crowds. In one hour, he alone had passed out
1,000 tracts.

“And it just showed me how hungry
the world is for the gospel. After we
had passed out all the tracts, we didn’t
find one on the ground,” Doc recalls.
“That was a life-changing experience
for me.”

Going Where Others Can’t

Through his 41 years of ministry,
Doc, who now heads up Answers in
Genesis–Worldwide, has found gospel
literature effective in numerous ways. It
is able to reach countries that are closed
to missionaries. In countries where nationals
get in trouble for talking with
Christians, tracts can be distributed and
read in private. And they can be easily
passed around—an average of seven
people read the same gospel tract.

Doc says gospel literature is also effective
in reaching people in regions
that traditionally are not Christian.
“Many peoples of the world may not be
interested in becoming a Christian,”
says Crandall, “but they are interested
in knowing what Christians believe.
In the process, you are presenting the
gospel to them.”

Opening Doors during Tragedy

While Doc has found the rest of the
world is very receptive to the gospel
through tracts and booklets, people in
the United States are reluctant to take
them. But he sees one exception—
when people experience tragedy.

Whether in New York City after
9/11 or in New Orleans after Hurricane
Katrina, Doc and teams of volunteers
found that people were eager for
gospel literature. One Friday after the
terrorist attack in New York, GLS, in
cooperation with the New York newspaper
The Daily News, distributed
500,000 tracts inside the paper. The
tract answered important questions,
such as “Why would a loving God allow
such tragedies?”

The Brooklyn Tabernacle, along
with other New York City churches,
used literature from GLS (in association
with Answers in Genesis) for
street evangelism. Thousands of copies
of the tract, translated into 15 different
languages, were distributed.
Through this outreach, they saw 600
people saved in one weekend as a direct
result of gospel literature.

Beginning at the Beginning

Doc was convinced early in his ministry
about the need to teach the Bible
chronologically and to incorporate the
creation account into his evangelism
efforts. When handing out gospel literature,
Doc has seen that it is far more
effective to start with Jesus as Creator
than to start with Jesus and the Cross.
For instance, in Bangladesh, they
don’t know who Jesus is. Doc explains,
“You don’t want them to just
add Jesus to their god-shelf. You want
to make sure that Jesus is taught as
their God, the Creator.”

Creation evangelism has proven to
be effective in most cultures and is
nonthreatening to groups that have a
creation story, like Muslims.

Many recipients of gospel literature
enjoy reading what the Bible says
about creation and other events in
Genesis, such as Noah’s Flood, which
have striking similarities to stories in
many cultures.

Genesis is also a good place to start
because the people in most of these
countries have little or no background
in Scripture. They need to hear the story
from the beginning, not beginning
in the middle.

“If you’re going to present the God
of the Bible, you need to begin sharing
that this is the Creator God,” says Doc.
“Then you can develop your other doctrines
from there.”

Sold on Creation Evangelism

While Doc had always advocated
teaching the Bible chronologically, Ken
Ham’s book Why Won’t They Listen?
opened Doc’s eyes to the importance of
teaching about origins when spreading
the gospel through literature.

Over the years, Doc has incorporated
“creation evangelism” in numerous
ways during his travels to 80 countries.
While at GLS, he partnered with Answers
in Genesis to distribute tracts
and booklets about creation and the
Creator who became our Savior. Two
examples were a massive effort to give
away 500,000 pieces of literature at the
Summer Olympics in Australia (2000),
and an effort to give away hundreds of
thousands more in Greece (2004).

Through Answers in Genesis–Worldwide,
Doc now spreads the creation
message around the world. Recently,
he completed arrangements to have
material translated into 75 different
languages.

As in the days of Martin Luther, gospel
literature is allowing Christians to
“proclaim the good news of His salvation”
and “declare His glory among the
nations and His wonders among all
peoples” (Psalm 96:2–3, NKJV).

Good News Travels

The Bible is the most printed, most read book in history. Yet printing
is only one step in placing God’s Word into people’s hands. The labor of
translation is also strategic.

Here are some highlights of how the good news has spread into other
languages since the Reformation:

1530s—William Tyndale’s English translation prepared the way for
other English versions of the Bible, including the King James Version (KJV).

1534—Martin Luther finished translating the entire Bible into German.

1629—The book of Matthew was translated into the Southeast
Asian language Malay.

1663—John Elliot translated the Bible into the Natick Algonquin
language of North America.

1793-1834—William Carey and his associates translated the
Scriptures into over 40 Asian languages.

1809 & 1816—The International Bible Society (IBS) and
American Bible Society (ABS) were founded in New York City. ABS
provided the first pocket Bibles for Civil War soldiers and supplied
Bibles to hotels and Pony Express riders.

1823—Robert Morrison translated the entire Bible into Chinese.

1887—John Ross translated the first Korean New Testament.

2006—United Bible Societies distribute 393 million Scriptures
in one year.

Today—Much translation work is left to be done. According to
Wycliffe Bible Translators, of the nearly 7,000 languages spoken in the
world today, more than 2,200 languages lack access to even one verse
of Scripture. Only 429 language communities have access to the
entire Bible in their native language.

Answers Magazine

October – December 2007

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